Hi everyone,

As my post count will no doubt indicate I am a new bee.

I have recently taken up the trumpet again after a gap of 12 years. I have now been playing again for 2 days, all be it a bit obcesivley.

My question is in regards to a players mouth and the ease at which he can play the trumpet. I have rather a thick bottom and top lip, and was once told that a trumpet wouldn't suit me as well as a french horn. Is this a load of tosh and does the size of your lips really affect the ease at which the trumpet can be played, or does hard work and practice counter act any posssible disadvantages which could be associated with the size of your mouth (lips etc.).

Also, I know different mouth pieces give different sounds, does the mouth piece that allows the player to reach higher notes more easliy really work? I currently have a beginners mouth piece, and I am finding it difficult to reach high notes upper e/f for example. Would like to know that this will become easier after time, instead of me bursting a vein every time I try to reach a high note.

My goal at the momment is being able to play Haydn's trumpet concerto once more, though this is a long way off me thinks. Anyhow thanks for the replies in advance ((if i get any that is).

I don't think the horn would be any easier. The mouthpieces are of similar diameter to trumpet ones. Trombone and tuba might be easier, but thick lips are not an insuperable problem. You may find that the mouthpiece is set into the pink part of your lips, but that's OK if your lips are that large: you vibrate only the parts that are in the cup.

Yes, but there's a trade-off: the smaller the cup of the mouthpiece (you, in particular, shouldn't have too small a rim diameter) the easier it is to get high notes, but the more difficult to get a good sound on the lower ones.

Yes, it will, but if you feel a lot of strain, you're probably pressing the mouthpiece too hard onto the lips. What you need to do is practise getting high notes with lateral tension in the lips and the minimum of pressure. It takes time, but the benefit is that your stamina and lip flexibility will be much better. I suggest you invent an exercise in which you practise slurred octaves, up and down, on a single fingering. Start with the open instrument on middle C (written), and slur up to the octave above and down again, always using plenty of air. Then work your way down by semitones, 2, 1, 12, 23, 13, 123, and back again (use the 13 and 123 fingerings for the upper notes too; it means that you are using only the lips and it will be good tuning practice also). Then carry on upward (C# - 123, 13, 23, 12 etc.) until you feel that you are starting to use lip pressure instead of lateral tension, when you should turn round and go down to the lower register again. I do this on the horn, and think of each set of three slurred notes as "doo-ee-oo", which gives something like the right feeling and shape to the lips.

I've asked this forum way back how people taught a low-pressure embouchure (sometimes called "no-pressure", but you have to have enough to stops leaks at the corners), but never got an answer. I would be delighted if a specialist trumpet teacher would cast an eye over the above, correcting or enlarging.

Thank you kenm for the insightful response, I have been practiicng harmonics the way you decribed, but I haven't been focusing on the lip tesnsion part, more the pressure type, this will be rectafied from now on. I have just been practicing for the last hour and I understand why it will eventually become easier to play high notes due to the development of the lips and the assocated muscles.

The doo ee ooo technique works also, this has been incorporated into my practice routine. Thanks once again. russ

if you've got a problem with range a good book is "how brass players do it" shows how the mouthpeice should be placed on the lips - and how to use the embochure - just practicing lip slurs is a very essential thing to do as well.
there is of course the arban and other tutors.
you will probably need a better mouth peice than a begginers one to get the top Eb in the hydan - i have only ever played ona flugel horn mouthpeice and a bach3c both of these i can get the Eb on but as you are playing trumpet i would advise the 3C - it's a good middle of the range mouth peice - but to be honest, you'd need to talk to a proffesional brass teacher to get a better idea of what mouth peice would be better for YOU - as i cant sit here at my pc and say to everyone "get a 3C" because everyone is different. i would say that (as kenm said) a specialist trumpet player or teacher would be able to help you much better i can

Thanks for the reply, I will ask my teacher on saturday which is the best one to get, I am quite pleased at the momment as I can quite easily get up to high C but notes above this are a real struggle. Still its only been 5 days and I have nearly nailed the second movement of haydn's trumpet concerto.

My son can get top A on his mouthpiece 7C Vincent Bach. His teacher has never suggested getting another mouthpiece. In fact the more he plays and warms up the higher he can get. He can get top A most days. The one that looks like middle C in the bass clef but in the treble.

He is trying out grade 5 at the moment with guildhall too. There marking is very different from ABRSM. I think their marking is much better re brass. They have a larger range of marks between each of the levels pass/merit/honours/high honours. You can really distinguish low pass and high pass. There marking scheme divides up each piece into 5 catergories including tone, accuracy, posture/control, contrast and interpretation, which then gets broken down even further. There marking scheme is called clearing. It is very good as you can see exactly where you have gone wrong in the exam.

if you are practising a lot, your lip is getting tired. our lip need rest. example, you are going to practise today. you should rest tommorow i mean dont use your lip tommorow. because if our lip is resting it getting hard and it make you to get a high notes. thats my suggestion.

i wouldn't reccomnt not playin - many of my teachers have said that by not plain one day you go back two days. also make sure your bottom lip is not curled back- also try not to press- this lesens the amount of time you can get high notes for